Aweb-based Distributed Health Information System to Cater for Patients With Chronic Ailments

Abstract

Distributed Systems today are rising dynamically in terms of new applications, hardware and network components, users, workload changes and in various research applications. A distributed dataset is having its importance to provide the data from various sources. This research study aims at giving an overview in this area, evaluating the current status of field and envisioning possible future trends in this field with specific focus of developing a distributed system that will provide support for physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals, as well as for patients and medical devices used to continuously monitor patients with chronic ailments. A distributed web-system prototype was developed in this research study, with three peer databases and a main database, communicating through web services. Dummy patients were created at peer databases and through aunthticated mobile sms service, patients’ data was made accessible from any of the other peer databases. From the results obtained it was evident that sharing of patients’ previous medical history has a positive impact on the quality of healthcare patients receive whenever they visit medical facilities for treatment especially those suffering from chronic ailments. The use of web based distributed system to facilitate the access of this data was demonstrated in Chapters 4. Research on the use of web-based distributed systems in healthcare was done through indepth study of similar platform like the use of openMRS, mostly in the western world, and reviewed papers that underscored the importance of sharing medical data, especially for patients with chronic ailments, who may move from place to place.